


tales of a gutsy zookeeper

by stratocumulus



Category: Naruto
Genre: Akatsuki: isnt kidnapping konohas jinchuuriki like. An act of war, Canon Divergence, Gen, Good!Akatsuki AU, He and Itachi really wouldve been good friends. Kindred spirits really, Nagato dabbles in pacifism, Nagato dabbles in philosophy as a coping method, Nagato: it's FREE real estate!!, Nagato: it's free real estate, Ninja world: the island is bad luck, Tags to be added - many more characters to come, Unreliable Narrator, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Worldbuilding, handwavy timeline, in the sense that rmbr akatsuki are not native konoha-ians they're not privy to all the canon info
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28618275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stratocumulus/pseuds/stratocumulus
Summary: Nagato comes across a small, blue-eyed child with the same name as the protagonist of his Shishou’s novel on the outskirts of Konoha’s forests and decides it’s fate that he kidnaps the village’s jinchuuriki and brings him to his ancestral land.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 159
Collections: Foxy fox 🦊





	1. Preface: Nagato learns to read

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka another Uzumaki-get-together AU, where smol Naruto gets absconded off to somewhere else. The work is roughly plotted through, but with room for many detours.

It’s Nagato’s second worst moment of his life that has Sage Jiraiya agreeing to teach their little trio ninjutsu. 

Something _snaps_ inside Nagato and when he comes to his senses again he’s murdered their assailants, but Yahiko and Konan are safe.

Yahiko and Konan and safe, and alive, and it should make the violence worth it.

It should make the reward of lessons worth it.

Nagato’s hands shake for hours.

Jiraiya tells him he doesn’t know if Nagato did the right thing or not, and such a frank admission from someone as experienced as the sage makes an “I don’t know” answer even sound wise. The follow up is a little more reassuring. Strength should be used to protect. It rings true. It makes sense. It’s enough that Nagato finds the resolve to become a shinobi, alongside Yahiko - who has been gungho about all this - and Konan - who has taken to it with quiet, steely resolve. 

My hope one day, Jiraiya tells him, is that people will be able to understand each others’ hearts.

It sounds impossibly wise, grander than just sheer optimism or naivete. As such, Nagato, despite his reservations, accepts this hope as well.

Jiraiya-shishou is writing a novel (lightly inspired by Nagato himself, he tells him). It’s a tale of a gutsy ninja who uses his strength to bring about peace. 

Maybe, Nagato thinks, the book can serve as a template or guide for his own path. Though Jiraiya-shishou says not to expect it anytime soon; there will be months of editing ahead, he tells Nagato with a sigh.

It occurs to Nagato that he doesn’t read much at all, although who can blame him in his war torn circumstances. Still, there is a warm feeling at the center of his chest that tells him what he already knows is true: that stories have the power to change hearts and minds.

The idea sits in the back of his mind for some time and when Yahiko waxes poetic about peace, and he has to contemplate the matter.

What does peace look like?

Do any of them really know peace?

He knows he wants the war to stop. He knows people say it’s impossible for wars to stop.

So - why is there war? Why is there peace?

Other lands, shinobi or not, must have experienced both war, and peace, and perhaps in their experiences lie answers. At least things to draw from.

But shinobi are notoriously secretive and have few if any written histories.

But other nations beyond their continent might not be the same; he’s heard rumors of their fallen civilizations and thinks there must be new ones standing in their place. If not, at least there will be lessons in what they did wrong, maybe even lessons in what they did right before their collapse.

It’s only later, while he’s walking, that he realizes that what he hoped for, in that conversation with Jiraiya, was that the world would come to one day understand the peace that Nagato and Yahiko and Konan so wish for. Nagato hadn’t even thought of understanding others himself, not if the ‘others’ are like the shinobi that broke into his home and murdered his parents. 

No, if he’s being honest, even though he’s now learned ninjutsu, even though he now knows shinobi like Jiraiya can be kind, he still thinks of them (and, secretly, of himself, with this newfound strength) a little like monsters.

Creating understanding will be a more difficult goal than he imagined.

-

To be frank, neither Nagato nor Yahiko have the stomach for killing (it’s a blessing, then, that their peacekeeping efforts so far have been settled with mere broken bones and bruises instead of true bloodshed). 

Of the three of them, Konan is most suited to be a shinobi. Not because she is cold, but because she puts their humanity above her own. She is willing to close her own heart in order to carry out her duty. 

Nagato understands this is necessary for her to save her precious things, her precious people. But he does not think this will bring her happiness in the long term.

He thinks about this as he watches Yahiko squirm with anger as he watches Konan receive (and turn down) a love confession. Well, he smiles and teases Yahiko about it first; he was curious to hear Konan’s reply as well. Anyone with eyes (indeed all of their fledgling organization Akatsuki already) can see Yahiko is smitten. Konan is harder to read, and Nagato can’t help wonder why she hasn’t told Yahiko yet she returns his affections.

Her dissatisfactory answer of duty has Nagato stepping out from the shadows before Yahiko can make a fool of himself with a poor excuse, and approaches Konan with more earnesty than his teasing of Yahiko.

“Duty is well and good, but life is short, Konan,” he says quietly. “We know that better than most, don’t we?”

Her eyes widen in surprise. Nagato doesn’t tend to meddle, so when he does, his two friends listen. Her gaze slides past him to Yahiko still dragging his toes by the corner they hid behind, and her expression softens. Nagato smiles. 

A little later, before they return to Akatsuki’s meeting space-slash-mess hall, Konan discreetly seeks out her admirer to tell him her true reasoning for turning him down. He takes it surprisingly well, considering. Then again, he probably already knew. 

It’s perhaps another blessing; good team relations have just become more crucial than ever, given the news a harried Akatsuki member brings them. Hanzo’s so-called peace negotiations are nothing of the sort; the invitation he sent was a trap. The group decides to lay low for a while; a confrontation with the terrible Hanzo while he’s out for blood and revenge over a failed plot would be meaningless. They would only lose comrades and look weak. 

Nagato takes the time to go through one of the history scrolls Jiraiya had procured for them. 

It’s slow reading; the language is dense, antiquated, and coded. He would not have been able to decipher it if he hadn’t been given the volumes by Jiraiya himself. They’re of Konoha, and largely known to the older shinobi generation anyway, Jiraiya had told him, apologizing that there wasn’t anything as varied as what Nagato had asked for.

“This is more than enough, thank you,” he’d told his old master.

-

Lurking on the lip of the valley of the rendezvous site, the Zetsu-clad, sharingan-bearing shadowy figure laughs, wry and raspy. 

“It seems we’ve been stood up,” he says. Hanzo certainly doesn’t look happy about it. They may still clash, but just fighting won’t do. The Rinnegan holder needs to lose the one closest to him in the most painful way possible. He needs to lose all hope for their saccharine, pacifist ways. He needs to despair to the point where darkness becomes, what do they call it? A warm embrace. 

He didn’t give that Uzumaki the Rinnegan for nothing. His hereditary chakra capacity and chakra shafts made him the perfect candidate to plug in, quite literally, to the Gedo statue. It was absolutely necessary that he come to see the error of his ways; he would need him to revive the Uchiha with the most developed sharingan later, in order to release from that wretched prison Mother. It was all for Mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Nagato and Itachi have a good deal of similarities (lots of differences too, of course) and both seem prone to getting into philosophical rabbit holes (hard, in this shinobi world with no respect for liberal arts. no philosophy or literature or history). They would have been good friends. I don't know that they will be good friends in this, ha, but the thought came up as I was writing it.
> 
> Frankly, the majority of the story will be relatively light and Zetsu and his wayward band of despairing Uchihas won't show up frequently at all.


	2. My name is Uzumaki Naruto!!

Nagato rolls out the large map of the Five Great Nations on the table they use for meals and planning. The title itself feels ironic - Ame is just a tiny afterthought tucked between the Land of Wind and Land of Fire. 

This is not the map they use for tracking battles and treaties. This one Nagato has been filling out with the information he can find in the histories. He writes in, in his fine, straight lettering, names of founders, heads of state, major events, even the weather if he has that information. Some villages he has little to no information about. There is plenty of room on the map.

As he pencils in an update about Hanzo, just for his own purposes, it occurs to him that he is nothing like the protagonist of his shishou’s novel. Nagato has only read one draft of it, years ago while Jiraiya was putting on final touches before a thorough edit, but the novel was clearly an action-adventure story with a gutsy protagonist, whose never-give-up ethos brought his enemies to their knees. There was a righteous fire in the shinobi Naruto, whose great strength was used as a means to protect, not conquer - an easily forgotten distinction when every fight looked the same to someone like Nagato. 

Nagato is nothing like Naruto, even if Jiraiya said Nagato inspired him to pen the story. In fact, he is probably the very opposite of Naruto. Nagato wants to protect what is precious to him, but Nagato does not want to fight. He does not want to accumulate strength and power to aid his quest of defending these people, he wants to take them all and hide them away.

Nagato wants to run.

With his finger, Nagato draws a straight line from their Hidden Rain Village to the Land of the Eddies. It’s deserted now, he thinks. Once home to the Uzumaki clan, Nagato has some ancestral ties to the place a couple generations back. The Uzumakis allied with Konoha, as he’s learned from his reading, but Konoha’s strength did not prevent it from falling. 

In fact, the Uzumakis’ strength was the source of their downfall. Small as it was, the seal work and creative jutsu that came out of the island nation was enough of a budding threat that far bigger nations had banded together to wipe them off the map, rather than waiting to see if it would become a threat for real. That’s what power _really_ does, Nagato thinks. It invites fear, attacks, and bloodshed. He wants nothing to do with it.

“Why don’t we leave?” he asks aloud, interrupting Akatsuki’s discussion of what to do about Hanzo’s apparent attempt to suss them out and stamp them out. And they listen, because he is technically second in command despite his quiet nature, and because since he so rarely speaks all know it tends to be important when he does. 

“Why don’t we abandon Ame?” Nagato asks again, this time to stunned silence. “What is there for us here?”

The silence turns contemplative. They all know that most of their ranks have no family left. Their friends have joined with them.

“Are you saying we should abandon all the work we’ve done?” Yahiko asks, hesitantly.

“We’ve had success brokering peace here, between small fighting factions. I don’t regret that, and I hope they will continue to coexist peacefully even if we’re gone. But no matter how many small groups agree to stop fighting, all of these groups exist under one village. Hidden Rain, ruled by Hanzo’s iron fist. And Hanzo has all but declared that the village isn’t big enough for the both of us,” Nagato says. He doesn’t like to be the bearer of bad news, particularly because Yahiko takes bad news so hard, but he would rather leave sooner than later. “Eventually, he will target us, and it won’t be like the other groups we’ve fought. It won’t be like the other shinobi we’ve fought.”

He looks at Yahiko in the eye, and he looks at Konan. “This is Hanzo, who Jiraiya-shishou could not even defeat, not with his team of three,” he says with some emphasis. 

“I’m not disagreeing,” one of their ranks, Kyusuke, said. “But where would we even go?”

Nagato eyes his map.

“The Land of the Eddies is abandoned; their villages were destroyed a few decades ago and no one has since tried to rebuild it. There are some rumors it’s cursed, but I doubt it. Who would start rebuilding on the bones of a village so feared that multiple Great Nations banded together to eradicate it?” His words make more than one member flinch. “But it’s been many years now. Some don’t even remember what used to be on those lands. I’m sure if we ...settle there, not as a Hidden Village, not as a shinobi village, but peaceful settlers of a fishing village, who may or may not use our ninjutsu to make daily life a little easier, no one will take great notice.”

It’s a long shot, but Nagato can see the members are seriously considering it. Yahiko, it’s a good sign, does not seem opposed. Konan gives him a piercing look he didn’t expect, one that says ‘we’ll talk later.’

“We don’t have to decide now,” Nagato rushes to add. “But we should decide soon. It’s not beyond Hanzo’s means to launch a surprise attack.”

-

“You’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Konan says, and it sounds almost accusing, though Nagato can’t for the life of him understand why.

“No, I’ve probably had the feeling of wanting to run away from this war torn land for a long time, but it was the sort of feeling like the fear that sticks to you after waking from a nightmare you can’t remember. I’ve only had the idea that we should leave for a short while,” Nagato answers honestly. 

Konan looks surprisingly conflicted.

“Konan,” he says. “What good is peace if we cannot enjoy it?” It’s an iteration of what he told her just earlier that day, convincing her to accept Yahiko’s feelings, accept her own feelings. Perhaps she did not understand what Nagato was really saying. 

“Every treaty we help create means another life, another ten, dozens of lives, are saved,” Konan says quietly. “What we’re doing isn’t meaningless.”

Nagato knows that. He knows he’s more cowardly than courageous, but truth be told, this was a line of reasoning he expected from Yahiko, not her. He’d been prepared to counter Yahiko, because he thought he would have Konan on his side - Konan, who wanted to see Yahiko live. 

Nagato knows he won’t win against Konan’s resolve of conscience, so he bargains shamelessly with her heart.

“Don’t you want to see Yahiko enjoy the peace he’s worked so hard for?”

They leave within the week.

-

In order to get to the islands that used to be the Uzushiogakure, they need to make their way through the forests that just border Konoha. 

The whole trip is an exercise in balance between expedience and caution, but so far so good. They’re nearly past the East-most border, nearly scot-free, when Nagato hears that pitiful sound.

There’s a small child crying beneath these trees. He’s not the only one who hears it; several members slow down, and, looking to each other, Yahiko nods, and a small group of them descend from the treetops. 

Nagato finds the source of the sound almost immediately; the small boy’s bright golden hair sticks out like a sore thumb, and his orange pants make him even more eye-catching. 

But he startles when Nagato approaches. Tears forgotten, the child rears up and gets to his feet, taking something of a fighting stance that looks one part sad, one part adorable. His tiny cherubic face is marred by three lines on either cheek, a split lip, and what will turn into a nasty bruise on the side of his face. His knees are scratched and covered in dirt, as are his hands. 

They hadn’t felt anyone else nearby. 

Nagato fears for the worst, but kneels gently to come eye level with the very small child to better assess his injuries.

“You’re hurt,” Nagato says.

“Who are you!” the boy responds, all bewilderment, no fear. It’s a strange response, and dispels Nagato’s unwanted flashbacks of his own injuries as a child, and how he sustained them after he was left all alone. Like this boy has been left all alone. “Nii-chan, your eyes are weird.”

“My name is Nagato. Are you from Konoha?” he asks. "You are quite far from the village."

The boy nods, jutting out his bottom lip. Then he makes a grand pose that reminds Nagato of Jiraiya for some odd reason, and points to himself with his thumb.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto!! An' I’m gonna become the strongest shinobi in the village, believe it! I’m gonna surpass even the Hokage!!” 

That-

Nagato’s brain stutters to a halt.

Uzumaki? Naruto?

The long gone clan of the Eddies, and the protagonist of Jiraiya’s book. Nagato half expects the boy to spout some riddle next, some sort of test of courage or morality, an old god in disguise. Fate making fun of his quest. 

“Where are your parents?” Nagato asks, pushing the thoughts aside, ignoring the others. 

Naruto pouts, eyes watering. “Don’t have any.”

“How did you get hurt? Enemy ninjas?”

His pout turns angry, and Naruto turns away, kicking at a patch of grass. “Just some boys,” he mutters. “They went home.”

Nagato makes the offer before he really thinks about it, before he even confers with the group. They’re somewhat of a democracy, so this isn’t how things are done, but they’re somewhat of a democracy, which means each member has some autonomy. He’ll take responsibility for this action.

“Do you want to come with me?” Nagato says, already ready to phrase his request to get his way. It’s what he would have wanted, as a child, in Naruto’s position. A home. Protection. He can give his would-be clanmate what he was never given.

“I’m an Uzumaki as well,” Nagato explains, tilting his head to the side. “We’re from the same clan. The Uzumakis used to reside in Uzushiogakure, did you know that? They don’t anymore, but that’s where I’m going. Would you like to come with me?”

Naruto’s eyes get progressively wider as Nagato explains, and when Nagato makes his request the second time, Naruto nods, once and emphatically, and the fat tears that had been welling up in his eyes finally fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol Nagato's a rather maudlin fellow, isn't he  
> hopefully the sun and surf and naruto!! will cheer him up hahaha


	3. interlude: naruto pov

The day started out really good, and then turned really bad, but then turned really good again - and now he was going on an adventure believe it!!

Naruto had gone to the park because that’s where all the kids always were and he didn’t feel like being glared at by adults that day or staying in his lonely apartment because the weather was nice, and he hoped maybe some of the kids would want to play with him today.

And they did! Naruto thought it was going to be a great day because some of the boys said they could join in in playing ninja out in the woods, except then Naruto realized that wasn’t what they were planning at all. When he realized they had tricked him, what he thought was a good day quickly turned into a really bad day. 

Naruto was clever, so he didn’t get caught in any of the traps they set for him, but he probably should have known they didn’t mean well when they wanted to play so deep in the woods which was so unusual. It’s just. If Naruto said no, they would think he was a scaredy cat and never want to play with him again. He didn’t want to lose the friends he  _ just _ made.

Not that they were really his friends. There was a fight, when they got angry for no reason, and he was outnumbered. And then when they were finally gone Naruto realized he didn’t know the way back, and wandered this way and that and never seemed to get any closer to the village. He couldn’t help it. He got tired and sat down, and then the sun started getting tired too, and it started to get cold.

But then he met a real ninja! A man who’d jumped down from the trees with other ninjas, and he said he was from the same clan Naruto was from! Naruto didn’t even know he had a clan; the Old Man wouldn’t tell him anything about his parents - he had to have had parents at some point - so he thought maybe it was because of something really terrible like they didn’t want him and threw him away. Naruto knew he had no one, in the village. 

But now he had a clan, and a brother, and they were going to the sea! They were going to where the Uzumakis came from and his new brother with funny eyes warned him no one would be there either, but Naruto hoped there might be anyway, because Naruto thought he knew he had no one but it turned out he had a brother all along, so it was always good to stay positive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short update 
> 
> I don't think the entire story will be Nagato POV, just we'll have to wait til we meet more of the characters haha


	4. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used the names of Amegakure characters for the Akatsuki cast, but had to make up a lot of things otherwise - since they really only appear in canon as cannon fodder for a moment.........

Nagato isn’t sure what he expected of the ruins of Uzushiogakure. Perhaps he hoped to find a warm seaside town. Perhaps he feared he would find dark skies and charred ruins. 

The truth is somewhere in between - meaning, for someone of Nagato’s pessimistic state of being, nothing short of a miracle.

Akatsuki reach the sea just before daybreak, and with some clever bargaining procure some row boats for their use. Naruto blinks blearily as they do so, but quickly falls asleep once on the rocking waves. 

But Nagato can’t help but wake Naruto up before they’re ready to dock.

As the sun rises, they are treated to a rich tapestry of hues that blend the most vibrant orange into clear blue. The light illuminates the island they’ve journeyed far and wide for. The excited shouts and happy exclamations probably would’ve woken Naruto anyway. 

The symbolic dawn is joyous.

But now comes the hard part.

It’s a good thing that, coming from Hidden Rain, many of Akatsuki’s members are proficient in Water Style. The island’s name is not an exaggeration, and there are whirlpools on every front. Perhaps there was once some standard pathway, but as it is, normal ships would not survive the pass. 

Nagato hands Naruto to Konan, who launches into the air; he has no doubt she will cover the distance without fail. 

The rest of them tense and ready, waiting for the command.

“Okay, just like we practiced!” Yahiko gives the order, and their water shinobi stand prepared, as the rest of them handle the oars. “Water Style: Grand Catapult!”

\- - 

When Nagato first proposed leaving Ame, it was easy for the members to get caught up in the momentum and agree one by one. But once the planning began, every pitfall and shortcoming of the venture was exposed and more than once someone insisted they give it up entirely. 

“Are we just going to hide there and die?” Kie asks. 

“And if we cut ourselves off from the world, where are we going to get resources?”

He understands the point. A dozen coutcasts banished to an isolated island - an exile of death is what it looks like. Not counting Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, Akatsuki numbers just 13 members. 

But that’s not what he pictured. Over the years, Akatsuki’s peacemaking means he’s met scores of thankful civilians, and they are miserable in Ame. 

“No, I want it to be a place where families can live to see their children grow up, safely,” Nagato says. It was apparently a founding idea of the first hidden village, he had read in the Konoha histories, but from what Nagato can see, that idea quickly fell by the wayside, and was probably never brought up again during the implementation and building of the shinobi village once they had the resources to build the village. People merely went from fighting for their clans to fighting for their villages. Plenty has been passed down regarding the art of war - everyone knows how to fight, but what of how to live? Nagato has no idea how to do that or where to learn, but he does think that the first order of things would be to get away from the fighting, so that they can even stay alive long enough to find out.

“We’ve already lost people, but plenty of struggling families hate the shinobi and hate the Great Nations just as much as we used to. If we chart the course, they can follow. But first we need to show them it’s possible,” Nagato says. “These are the people we’ve been keeping peace for, isn’t it?”

He looks at Yahiko, because if there is a fundamental misunderstanding he would be - he doesn’t want to be undermining Yahiko’s goal, Yahiko’s organization.

Yahiko only blinks as if he’s never thought to use those specific words before. “Well, I suppose so!” he says, and that is close enough.

So their merry band of exiles will leave. But once they’ve ascertained the land is habitable, they will extend an invitation to those seeking to escape war-torn lands. They will create routes and ensure safe passage, and carve out a niche for peace in this world. 

A certain amount of secrecy and vetting is in order of course; they wouldn’t want a spy in their ranks, but frankly he doubts anyone dangerous thinks theyre worth infiltrating.

In fact Hanzo would probably laugh, in mirth, that their pesky group has tucked their tail between their legs and run. Let them laugh, and keep their days of endless battles. Pride will not keep Nagato’s precious people alive.

People seem to think this idea is so novel. Why must ninjutsu be used for battle? Why not to grow and water crops, build homes, catch fish? Nagato doesn’t think it is, but the idea that power should be used for something so lacking in glory is, to everyone but Nagato, a radical one. 

During their trek through the small nations, Nagato continues to meet dozens more entire communities who remind him exactly of those struggling families in Ame. He sees them, and thinks he is on the right path. Didn’t Jiraiya say they, one of his students, would find the path to peace? He hopes this is it, he hopes he is right.

One of their members, Ajisai, is adept with summoning scrolls, and incredibly handy to have on this venture. They’ve stored months of supplies in the scrolls stuffed in her oilskin pack, and pick up the rest of what they need on the way. She is just a child, Nagato thinks. She barely comes up to his shoulder. How horrific that shinobi start on this path of life so young.

They move with disguised trepidation through the small civilian towns, none of which have escaped the spillover of the latest Shinobi War. But once they come within throwing distance of Konoha, they move as quickly as possible, hoping to clear the area before potential trouble can find them. Nagato had told the group he had a bad feeling about Konoha, and he truly doesn’t think it is just because he has had a bad impression of Konoha shinobi. The village is powerful and who knows how they treat unknown variables during wartime? He’d rather not risk it. 

By that logic, he shouldn’t have stopped when they came across the child, and he definitely shouldn’t have picked up the boy. But his name is Naruto Uzumaki and it feels like the meeting is predestined. He lets the boy cling to him as a koala the entire way and pepper him with questions until he falls asleep, and if this was a mistake, Nagato is willing to deal with the consequences. 

  
  



	5. Something lost and something found

Naruto is a very small child. Konan scoops him up into her arms and takes off in flight, paper wings shooting them high above the spray of errant waves, and he whoops in surprise and excitement. 

“That’s! So! Cool!” the tiny boy shrieks, throwing his arms up. He’s squirmy, but Konan’s arms are firmly locked around his waist. 

“Nee-chan, you can fly!” he says, looking at her with big, big eyes full of awe, as if informing her of some great newfound knowledge. The trip has been a tense one, but it’s impossible not to smile at Naruto’s excitement. They reach land with a slow descent and she is about to respond, but a burst of water catches Naruto’s attention and he shouts and marvels anew at the fact that they are all  _ real ninjas _ and can do  _ cool ninja tricks!! _

“My name is Konan.”

“Konan-nee-chan! Nice to meet you! I’m Naruto Uzumaki! Ne, ne, can you guys teach me? Please, please teach me? I want to learn cool jutsu like that too, I’ve gotta, if I want to be the strongest ninja, you know!” 

Konan sets the wiggly boy down. “Yes, I suppose we can try to teach you,” she says, studying him. Last night, when they added a child to their motley crew, Konan couldn’t help but be reminded of when she and Yahiko had found Nagato all alone, and accepted him into their little group. But clearly Naruto is far more like Yahiko than he is Nagata, all easy smiles and boundless enthusiasm. And the cheek! She’s warming up to the idea of a new little brother.

He grins in response, hands fisted at the bottom of his shirt, cheeks flushed as if he’s a little bashful his request is granted despite the loud insistence. She’s tempted to ruffle his hair.

There’s a loud  _ thud _ and he whips his head around. “Oooh!!” It’s an impressive sight indeed; the huge bursts of water have propelled the boats onto land, where they don’t crash so much as skid forward and leave a muddy mess far past the shoreline. Naruto runs, wobbling a bit when he skids on some mud, and jumps with his arms up as he stops before Nagato.

“That was awesome!!!” Naruto says, and lets Nagato take his hand. Yahiko laughs, and a few of the other Akatsuki members smile as well.

“Ne, ne, you guys are really strong, right? You hafta be, to use a strong jutsu like that, right? Will you teach me that too?”

Nagato wants to say no, but he doesn’t want to do it like this, out of nowhere and seemingly for no reason, in a way that is sure to upset Naruto-kun. So he merely tables the talk and follows the others forward to survey their new land.

-

The first order of things is to build shelter, and there is a bit of discussion about where to build, but ultimately shelter is an immediate need and things quickly built can also be quickly rebuilt.

"What about a wall? We've kind of got the moat thing going, but a wall would make our village more defensible," Yudachi suggests.

"A wall would require planning out the size and scope of the village," Daibutsu points out.

"The whole point of laying low and not creating anything resembling a hidden village is so that we have nothing that requires being defensible  _ from," _ Yahiko reminds them, which sets off a discussion of whether they would need to be prepared for an attack at all.

"At this point what we really need is intelligence," Kyusuke pipes up. "Not any plans set in stone," he adds with a laugh, shooting Daibutsu a joking smile as the large Earth style user creates another wall for one of their cottages.

"I agree," Nagato says. As much as he feels relief at their new circumstances, being….free, in a sense, on their own land, he knows that they need to find a way to keep apprised of what the Great Nations are up to, and to avoid ever again getting caught in the middle of a war. It has been nagging at him for a while now: what is the source of conflict? Plenty of skirmishing factions they'd fought held no great allegiance to either side, hence Akatsuki's success. There is so much they don't  _ know _ .

And then Kyusyke, because he really does have a talent for pointing out uncomfortable truths, jerks his thumb over his shoulder and asks, "And did we really pick up a kid on our way? Really?"

"At least we know he's not a spy," Daibutsu says with a laugh. 

"Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here," shouts Naruto, who's been corralled by Ajisai into running errands. He's exchanged introductions wit h a few members so far, but not all of them. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and this niichan here said this is where the Uzumaki clan usedta be so I'm going to help build the village again, believe it!"

That draws a laugh from the troops, and Nagato thinks wryly that a child probably wasn't as jarring as he thought it might be, since most of them experienced war at Naruto's age themselves. They're surprisingly nonchalant about the sudden appearance of a hyperactive five(?) year old.

"Well, that settles it!" Yahiko says, ever the leader. "Welcome Naruto-kun, let's build the first buildings of the new village together!"

And if Daibutsu lets the small child sit on his shoulders to place the fortifying seal on the first completed little house in a quasi-ceremonial move, no one complains about humoring the boy.

It occurs to more than one of them that if they were instead civilians, the building would go far slower. 

The Water style users put their talent to good use and in the time it takes to prepare dinner (from rations for expedience, though they will need to assess the island's resources in the coming days), they have joined forces with Daibutsu and built a bathhouse and a rudimentary sanitation system.

"I'm pretty sure this is the most mundane thing I've ever done with ninjutsu," Monjin says, scratching his head.

Yahiko laughs. "Not mundane, revolutionary, right Nagato? Just wait til he makes you work on irrigation!"

Dinner is had in high spirits, and Nagato lets himself believe things are on the right track too. Halfway through, Naruto falls asleep having exhausted himself running supplies back and forth all day. He sleeps like the dead.

-

Meanwhile in Konoha, one masked chunin guard looks to the other, contemplating the relatively peaceful day they've had so far.

"Do you think he's gotten tired of graffiting the monument?"

"Haha, sure would make our lives easier, wouldn't it?"

At the same time, one masked ANBU member looks to the other, neither particularly wanting to be the inevitable bearer of bad news to their superiors.

"I'll check the apartment again, who knows, third time's the charm," one says, disappearing.

"Oi."


	6. Power exchanged for human sacrifice

Kurama stirs.

These are not the forested lands he has been tied to for centuries. There is water in the air in a way that is unusual for the tree and mountain rich terrain he has grown accustomed to. Kurama cracks an eye open, and rises to his feet. His sheer bulk and size causes a rumble, a small earthquake that reverberates through his unforgiving prison.

_ Where am I? _

Kurama hears a gasp; he is not alone, he hasn’t been for a long time. Standing in the ankle-deep water, the smallest host he has ever seen squeaks and turns around, turning his large, shiny eyes on Kurama. Kurama scowls, this pitiful creature is even smaller than Kushina was. Yet  _ another _ Uzumaki, but without the red hair. Kurama thinks he hates them on principle. If not for the bars, he would open his jaws and swallow the tiny nuisance whole.

“Who are you?!” the little creature shouts, pointing rudely with one hand, his other fisted in his shirt. The arrogance of humans never fails to appall; even the smallest of them do not know their place.

Kurama bares his teeth and snarls, loud and meant to frighten. 

It works. The child disappears in an instant, the last thing Kurama sees is wide blue eyes filling with fear.

-

Naruto jerks awake. 

When did he fall asleep? Oh yeah, they built houses, even though they were squat, short ones, not like the tall ones he's used to seeing, and he helped!

And dinner was good and it’s not that  _ everyone _ was  _ nice _ to him per se, but they didn’t give him that funny look as if he’d been bad even before he’d done anything and they all looked him in the eye and addressed him like he was anyone else. A lot of them are kind of weird but also strong and Naruto thinks he'll like this village he is building. 

He huffs. Thinking about his day helped. But what was  _ that? _

"Naruto?"

He jumps again, and realizes there is a bedroll next to his own.

"Nagato-niichan!" he says, surprised to find him. 

Nagato blinks, then looks to the window, where the sky is still dark but fast lightening. The rooms are sparse, but they'll have to purchase or build more furniture soon.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?" he asks.

Naruto rubs his arms and thinks about it. He can still hear the leaky  _ drip, drip _ of that, that  _ weird _ dark place. A monsters cave? He shudders.

Nagato's already gotten up. 

"Come on, you can help find a place for us to put the first garden, Naruto."

A garden! "I love plants!" He scrambles to his feet.

-

Nagato remembers his parents growing vegetables on their patch of land. Growing your own food was economical, when it worked. Ame's seasons were unpredictable, and much of the land lacked nutrients, as if suffering from the war as well. 

He brought seed packets, and hands them to Naruto.

"Which do you think we should plant first?" he asks, mostly just to give Naruto something to do. They'll have to plant all of them, technically. This won't be a garden, they'll need full fields to harvest. To start with they'll spread out the plots; best not to bet all they have on any unknown conditions.

Naruto frowns hard at the packets and it occurs in passing to Nagato that maybe he cannot read very much yet, although there are drawings on the paper packets so he should still be able to pick.

"Isn't there…"

"Hm?"

"Isn't there something like a ramen plant!" Naruto blurts out, and Nagato snorts and laughs. Naruto's been nothing but unexpected the whole day and a half he's known the boy.

Naruto makes a face. "Don't laugh, Nagato-niichan, all you've got here are vegetables, you know?"

"Of course they're vegetables, what else did you think we were going to grow?"

"I dunno, but not carrots!"

"Ah, well, there is rice as well." That'll need a lit of water, and a lot of space. They'll have to wait for Monjin, who had been working on a jutsu to take the seawater and render it freshwater.

They start with small, manageable lots first, including one for Naruto to look after himself. Nagato environs large fields of crops, but chasing after the boy he realizes he needs to be realistic. Perhaps after the first round of planting, he should let each member stake out and manage their own plots. It's a different feeling when you determine your own fate, even when it comes to what vegetables you'll be able to eat, than when it's just another chore to tick off the list, if Naruto's reactions are anything to go by. 

"This carrot is going to be the most delicious carrot to ever be planted!" Naruto says, happily patting a mound of dirt. "I'll water you every day and you'll become the biggest carrot I've ever seen, believe it!" 

The sun rises fully soon enough and others start to show their faces. Nagato turns to see Kyusuke already packed, Ajisai trailing behind him, approaching Yahiko.

"Oh you guys are already ready! Great. You'll have to take another two water users for your trip."

"We might as well leave soon to be able to get to town at a decent hour," Kyusuke says. He looks around. "Might need someone decent at diplomacy, too, if you're not coming Yahiko."

"He's good at negotiating peace, but who knows about trade," Konan muses from the doorway pf another building she just emerged from. Yahiko makes an affronted noise and she smiles.

"Aji-neechan! Where are you guys going?" Naruto runs up to her and gets his hair ruffled in return. Whether because they're closer in age (or height) or because he spent all yesterday being directed around by her, Naruto seems to think of her as a friend. 

"We're going to pick up more supplies."

Nagato walks over, depositing all the coin he has in her hands. It occurs to him that currency will do them little good on this isolated island of theirs, and it must occur to her too, because she blinks, but otherwise nods with understanding.

"Ehh? Why are you going? Besides me, you're the shortest!"

"Silly! Remember the scrolls yesterday, and how when you gave them to the other guys they turned into pots, and tools, and other things?"

"So you're gonna carry the scrolls?"

"I'll have you know, it takes talent with summoning in order to do this effectively,"she says, and at Naruto's scrunched up face she smirks, crossing her arms. "I can teach you when I get back."

"I dunno...it doesn't seem as cool a jutsu as the water thing." 

"Hey!"

"And the other nee-chan can fly, you know? She has wings." He gets his cheeks pinched for that. 

"Hnn I'll have you know, I can summon just as much water as it takes to carry a boat to shore!" she tells him as Naruto struggles to complain with her tugging on his cheeks. 

"Ajisai! We're going."

"Ah. Bye Naruto-kun!"

"Have a good trip! You can show me what other cool things you can summon when you get back, you know!"

They continue to build and plant and at some point, Fuyou a sensory type who was also strong with Water style, heads a short fishing expedition, just to test the waters.

By afternoon, Kyusuke is back, much earlier than expected. It was supposed to be a three day trip; Nagato had written up a rotation of teams to make trips to the mainland on a staggering basis.

It sets everyone on high alert, except Naruto, who runs up to Ajisai before blinking at her worried expression.

"You're back already!"

She gives him a pat on the head but is otherwise too distracted to greet him, following Kyusuke over to where people are gathering. 

“We have to go south and around,” Kyusuke is saying. “We’ll have to take the long way, the longer the better frankly, because Konoha-nin are on high alert and we do not want to cross paths with them.”

“What? Why?”

Kyusuke hesitates for a moment. “It sounds like they’ve lost their village’s jinchuuriki,” he says.

“Jinchuuriki? What’s that?” More than one member raises the question, but several look just as wary as Kyusuke; they’ve heard the stories of rampaging beasts doing even more destruction than Hanzo, but Ame has no such sacrifice.

“‘Power of human sacrifice,’” Nagato repeats with a grimace. He knows all the big nations have one, and the rare small hidden village holds them as well. 

“Didn’t Jiraiya-sensei mention something about Konoha’s once?” Yahiko says, thinking. He did, though he hadn’t said much, Nagato thinks, something about the power of the sharingan, because Nagato had asked about dojutsu.

“There are nine tailed-beasts, bijuu. Creatures made of pure chakra,” Nagato says, remembering. “A human sacrifice is made to control that power.”

Nagato’s stomach turns, sick at the thought. He’s distracted from the repulsion though, as Naruto bumps into his leg, trying to hide his face away and grasping for his hand. He lays a hand on Naruto’s head to comfort the boy. Is he scared? Did he know much about Konoha in the few years he was left to fend for himself?

“Yeah,” Kyusuke says, running a hand through his hair. “Wind Country’s Sunagakure has one. I remember hearing some Sand shinobi talking about what a powder keg it was, liable to go loose on its own people at any time. If they’re half monsters, half shinobi, they’re unpredictable ones.”

“And Konoha’s is loose?” Konan asks, frowning.

“Are you saying we got lucky and just missed it?” Daibutsu asks. Luck would be one way to put it.

“Well….” Kyusuke hesitates, and Nagato doesn’t miss him glancing over quickly, before looking away. “The words they were strange. ‘Lost’ or ‘ran away.’ That’s not how you refer to dangerous shinobi who desert, is it? They’re ‘rogue’ and ‘missing-nin.’ They’re defectors. And yeah, they talked about having to put it down, but they didn’t talk about it like it was going to be a big fight they’d prepared for, almost like it was...a nuisance.”

He says something else, but Nagato’s attention is occupied by a tiny whisper, Naruto peeking out from behind his hand to ask, “is a bijuu like the nine tailed fox?”

Nagato’s eyes widen. Is that what he’s afraid of?

“Yes, exactly like that.”

Naruto buries his face back in the folds of Nagato’s robe. “I think it killed my parents,” he says. Then he adds, “that’s why I don’t have any. They died the night it attacked Konoha.”

There’s a sinking feeling in Nagato’s stomach. 

“Naruto, how old are you?”

Naruto blinks at the apparent change in topic. He holds out his hand, fingers apart. Then he seems to realize.

“Five- oh. Yeah, it was five years ago. On my birthday, you know? That’s what the Old Man told me,” Naruto frowns, a pout to try to hide a wobbling lip. “I think that’s why all the villagers hate me,” he adds in a tiny voice.

“The Old Man?” Nagato asks, not liking what he’s piecing together.

“The hokage, you know! He’s super old.”

Nagato’s not the only one who seems to have come to the suspicion that Naruto is not just another war orphan street urchin. He scoops the child up, trying to angle him to face the other way from Yahiko and Kyusuke but he’s a curious child and seems to understand the sudden silence means something bad. 

“Take the long way,” Nagato says, placing a hand on Naruto’s back, making a statement that they don’t intend on giving him up. “Let’s make a plan for hitting a few of the other towns than we had originally planned, and you guys can set out tomorrow first thing instead.”

“Yeah...are we not going to talk about the fact that we might have just put a target on our backs with  _ Konoha _ of all nations?” Kyusuke asks, unable to let anything go. 

“Kyusuke, we don’t know that N-” Ajisai stops when she realizes what she was about to say, and her eyes dart over to Nagato before quickly looking away to avoid Naruto’s eyes when he turns. 

"That's why his chakra is so large?" Fuyou says softly, "I thought it was just his lineage, being an Uzumaki, like Nagato."

Naruto’s eyes sweep over the scene and unfortunately mistakes the fear in some members eyes to be directed at him; the prospect of facing Konoha black ops is the last thing they want.

His tiny hands curl into Nagato’s clothing, arms trembling. Then he squirms and drops to the ground, inadvertently kicking Nagato as he runs away. 

Stupid! 

When he woke up this morning, he had been so glad that he was going to be a part of a new home, where people didn’t look at him like they used to. That didn’t even last a whole  _ day. _ There was something wrong with Naruto after all, there must be, if this keeps happening, no matter where he is or who he’s with. 

Stupid. Stupid!

He runs until it turns dark and Naruto realizes it’s not because the sun went down but because he’s inside what looks to be a small mossy cave. It’s wet on the ground and covered in rocks, and it reminds him of that stupid monster cave he dreamt of with the big growly creature. 

“RAAGH!” He kicks a rock, and picks up another one and throws it deep into the save, where it bounces and echoes before it finally quiets. Then he throws another one, and another one.

-

Nagato turns, about to follow Naruto.

“Is it really safe if Naruto-kun is actually the jinchuuriki?” Ajisai asks, and that stops Nagato in his tracks. 

Nagato fumes. To be fair, he isn’t thinking clearly. He has no idea what a jinchuuriki is capable of. Is Suna’s really unpredictable? Does the human host have no say over how the bijuu they contain acts? As for dangerous - Nagato himself is dangerous. He has been in a way that is unpredictable, lashing out at threats and coming to not evening knowing how he killed his enemies.

“Does it matter if he is?” Nagato says, and he’s being petty and selfish he knows that, if this is something that could practically constitute an act of warm “He’s just a  _ child. _ If provoking him is a way to set off the Nine Tails, how is that different from any of us? Would you not attack if you were scared? Backed into a corner? Would you not lash out?”

His mouth twists at the memories he’s blocked from himself. “I know I have.”

“Nagato,” Yahiko reaches for him.

“As of right now,” Nagato says, taking a deep breath, “Konoha doesn’t even know we’re here. Let’s keep it that way.” He stalks off to find his ward. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akatsuki members: isnt stealing konohas jinchuuriki like, an act of war  
> Nagato: it's free real estate


	7. Where one comes from

**_Oi._ **

It sounds like a deep and rumbling voice, coming from his belly. But not like when his belly is rumbling because he wants to eat ramen. Naruto stops mid-throw.

"He- hello?" he asks tentatively.

**_Let me out. I'll crush them all._ **

"Crush who?!" Naruto exclaims, surprised. 

**_The Konoha shinobi. The ignorant runaway shinobi that turned on you. All of them._ **

Yeah, Naruto doesn't want to crush _anybody_. 

Okay, sure, sometimes he gets really mad and he wants to punch something. Punch someone. But then when he thinks about it he doesn't really want to because he knows he would hurt (he IS strong, so it WOULD) and he knows what it's like to hurt so he doesn't want to punch somebody just for looking at him mean. Although, he _has_ gotten into fights, but he thinks it's perfectly fair to punch someone who is trying to punch you, that's just common sense.

"Are you..?" Naruto gulps, and puts a hand on his stomach. He bends so he can whisper at his belly button. "Are you a monster that lives inside my belly?"

Has it been eating all his ramen all this time?!

**_Ah._ ** The rumbling voice answers affirmatively, sounding smug as if he knows a secret that Naruto doesn’t. **_I am the monster you know as the Nine Tailed Fox! Cower before me, you puny rodent._ **

Naruto plops down on his bottom partially in shock and partially because of the boom of that low growly voice. He sits cross-legged in the shallow water before the barred gates of the monster’s cell. 

“Did you kill my parents?” he asks in a small voice, valiantly preventing his bottom lip from trembling.

**_The Yellow Flash and the stupid Chili Pepper? Ah, that was me._ **

Naruto wasn’t sure what response he preferred but he definitely did not expect this one. He’s taken aback by the familiar nicknames the kyuubi uses, so much so he forgets to rage at the beast.

“You knew them?!”

The fox bares its teeth. 

**_Are you tiny humans so ignorant you don’t even know your own parents?_ ** “Hey!” **_Your nuisance of a father was the Fourth Hokage of Konoha who sealed me inside of you._ **

Naruto’s eyes widen like saucers as he takes in the words _Fourth Hokage_ , but the fox laughs shrill and mean, likely not sharing Naruto’s pride at his newfound ancestry. 

**_That’s right. Your father is the reason your village hated you so much. He sacrificed his own son to house the beast._ **

Before Naruto can wonder whether that’s true, the kyuubi drops another bombshell.

**_And your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the previous jinchuuriki. She was taken from her village to become Konoha’s sacrifice, just as you were after I was released from her at your birth._ **

Naruto slowly places a hand on his stomach. His mother was also a jinchuuriki! And now he knew her name---Kushina! She is the reason he is part of the Uzumaki clan. But. The kyuubi was released. And then the kyuubi killed them.

“So. You were in my mom’s tummy before?” Naruto asks, latching on to one part of the story at a time. He has so many questions! But, well, the kyuubi isn’t going anywhere, is he? He’s stuck inside Naruto’s tummy so he’ll have to answer all of his questions eventually. Like did he really kill Naruto’s parents? _Why_ did he kill his parents? Did he do that on purpose? How could he even manage it if first he was sealed inside Naruto’s mom, and then Naruto’s dad sealed him away? Naruto scrunches up his face. He was inside his mom's tummy the same time the kyuubi was in her tummy. “Like twins.” And then when Naruto came out apparently the kyuubi got out too. Which one of them was older, then? Naruto pouts. He does not want to be brothers with this creature.

**_No!_ ** Evidently the kyuubi does not either. **_Insolent creature. I have eight siblings. And none of them are stinky humans like you!_ **

Naruto rears up at this statement, jumping to his feet. “You’re mean!” he decides, pointing at the fox. “Calling humans stinky even though you don’t know me!! That makes you just as mean as the villagers who treat me like I’m bad even though they don’t know me!!”

The kyuubi roars with outrage at the comparison, and it scares a squeak out of Naruto, but he’s mad too, and anger is easier to act on than fear for Naruto.

**_Don’t compare me to that shinobi scum!! Ignorant, violent creatures who enslaved me and treated me like some mindless beast!_ **

“Meany!! Mean!!!”

His roars taper off with a snarl and the kyuubi lays down and turns the other way, no longer interested in arguing with a five-year-old.

**_You’re nothing but a puny fishcake, not worth my time. I should just eat you, but you’re not even worth a mouthful!_ **

And with that, Naruto finds himself back in the cave, sitting on the rocks. The kyuubi's logic is suspect, Naruto thinks. How can it eat Naruto when _he’s_ the one in _Naruto’s_ stomach?

His eyes widen as he realizes he's not alone.

"Nagato-niichan?" Naruto gulps. He hopes he isn't here to throw Naruto out.

"Naruto." He sounds relieved. When Nagato found Naruto in the cave, after following the sound of rocks being thrown, the boy was sitting in somewhat of a daze. He tries to smile and hopes it doesn't come across too brittle. "Come on, let's go back."

Naruto takes the proffered hand, but then he hesitates.

"Will they really let me come back?" he asks in a small voice.

Nagato hesitates, and it’s a mistake; Naruto takes it badly, it’s immediately clear on his face. Nagato sinks down to sit beside him. 

“We will leave if it comes to that,” Nagato says, “and I will go with you.”

Naruto’s eyes fill with tears. “I already lost a home. I don’t want Nagato-niichan to lose yours too!”

“Home is people who love you, not a village,” Nagato says. Naruto opens his mouth but Nagato answers before he needs to ask. “Yahiko and Konan showed me that, and I know they don’t want you to leave either, Naruto. They may come with us wherever we go, if it came to that. They already think of you like family.” 

“Ajisai likes you very much, too, Naruto-kun. I don’t think she’ll stop being your friend just because we had some surprising news.” Naruto’s grip tightens on Nagato’s hand. “Daibutsu has been nothing but kind to you since you met, right? He won’t stop being kind to you now, he isn’t that kind of a person.”

“Fuyou said some things, but only because she was surprised. She is very sensitive. Do you know what a sensory type shinobi is? No? Well they can feel a lot about other people’s chakra. Some Uzumaki are like that as well.”

“And Kyusuke might have sounded scary, but he’s not a bad guy. None of them are. They’re all comrades I trust, Naruto-kun. I believe they have faith in you too. Can you try to have faith in them?”

When Nagato looks over at Naruto’s face, his eyes are round and filled with tears about to spill over, and he’s biting his bottom, trembling lip, where the snot has already run over it. He only has a split second to worry that he’s failed to convince Naruto of his safety, when Naruto launches himself bodily into Nagato’s chest in a big hug, crying freely and _loudly_ , arms flailing as he expresses how touched he is.

“I’ve never had friends before!! And now I have so many niichans and neechans who are willing to be my comrades!! I will definitely not let you or anyone down, believe it!”

All Nagato can do is hug back. A swell of relieved laughter even bubbles up in him, even if it doesn’t make it all the way out. 

The moving moment is interrupted by a loud grumble, that gets louder still as it echoes through the cave. He looks down at Naruto, who’s face has turned red.

“Hungry?” Nagato says. “They should be starting dinner soon.”

Naruto nods, and then hides his face in Nagato’s sleeve.

“Yeah,” he says, muffled. Then he jerks back, and blinks at Nagato curiously. “What’s en-slaved mean?”

“Enslaved?” Nagato furrows his brows, and tries to think of an example. “It’s like….a prisoner, who...gets sold by the enemy. They lock them in chains, and end up having to do hard labor for their enemies. Where did you hear that?”

Naruto looks too surprised by the definition to process the question. “Eh? Oh, I duno. Somewhere.” He puffs out his cheeks. “There’s lotsa words I don’t know though.”

“That’s okay, I’ll teach you.”

He scoops up the boy and heads back out the cave, starting the trek down the hill to get back to the group. It was a fortiutious discovery, even if Naruto didn’t realize it yet. It seems he happened upon a fresh, running water source, and once they figured out how to tap into it, it would make the land that much more livable.

-

Luckily for everything, Nagato thinks wryly, the troops have sorted themselves out by the time he and Naruto get back. Dinner is in progress and they’ve had a chance to get the shock out of their system, realizing that, indeed, Konoha has no idea they are here, and Naruto with them. 

Naruto peeks out at the crowd from where his face has been buried in Nagato’s shoulder since they’d gotten close to so-called civilization, and seeing their easy smiles and normal expressions, Nagato still marvels at how freely Naruto forgives and forgets, breaking out into a sunny grin in return. He hops down from Nagato’s hold but stays close, and accepts one bowl after another from Ajisai to help pass along down the line around the fire. 

Nagato can’t help but notice that even though conversation is free-flowing, they steadfastly ignore the topic that came up earlier. He wonders how long it’ll last before someone slips up.

He shouldn’t have wondered - Kyusuke dives back in, _on purpose._

“Hey Naruto,” Kyusuke says, and Nagato can feel Naruto go still from where he’s sitting close, tucked into his side. 

“Hm?”

“Sorry about earlier. What Konoha did to you when you were just a baby….well of course that’s not your fault. And that thing’s not you anyway. Naruto is Naruto, and I’m sorry about talking about making decision about you like you weren’t even there.” Kyusuke nods, crossing his arms. It might not be the nicest apology Nagato’s ever heard, but it’s certainly sincere, and Naruto can feel it. His trepidation turns to happiness - at being recognized, beyond what he thought they would give. Naruto’s had to prove himself all his life - unsuccessfully, thus far - but now he finally has a group of people who acknowledge him, just for being Naruto.

The tears return, but this time he turns the waterworks onto Kyusuke, latching on with a big, snotty hug.

“Cat-eye-niichan! Heh, you’re a pretty good guy after all, you know!”

“Don’t call me cat-eye-niichan!! Geez! After I went out of my way to be nice to you!”

“Un! And I’m really happy you did, you know!”

“Get off!!”

He complains, but they’re going to be good friends. Naruto’s decided! 

After he relents and goes back to eating his dinner, happily accepting the warm words from his new friends and soon-to-be friends, a niggling thought rises up from somewhere inside him. 

Has anyone ever told kyuubi that he shouldn’t be blamed for things that aren’t his fault?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOW can anyone be mean to a smol naruto that looks like this https://64.media.tumblr.com/5feda931101966a19b9c6111bad20dde/5678ac8c945b5bb0-65/s2048x3072/7b1da422c6bdccfa3285115ec7e9b8432963fc82.jpg


	8. Things of beauty

_Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!_   
_Give me your tired, your poor,_   
_Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,_   
_The wretched refuse of your teeming shore._   
_Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,  
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!_

_-_

Kyusuke's team departs and returns from their expedition with no problems this time, and Yahiko decides he will venture out for erramds next.

"Nagato! You'll hold down the fort, won't you?"

"Of course."

Naruto tugs on Ajisai's hand for attention. 

"Ne, don't you have to go to use the storage thingys?" he asks.

She smiles, and pulls out a couple of seal tags for Natuto to examine. 

"The great thing about seals is that when you make a completed one, anyone can use it. Konan-sama is carrying a bunch of storage seals I made days ago, and she will be able to use them whenever she needs."

Naruto takes a closer look at one of the tags.

"Hey, hey this looks a little bit like the exploding tags I used for my pranks, except the symbols are different."

"Exactly!" She ruffles his hair. "There are all sorts of seals, but actually, if you think about it, they all work on a similar principle. You can store a jutsu, like an explosion! Or you can 'store' a thing like this kunai. Some things are more complicated to seal than others, and takes practice and talent. And then to 'activate' the seal, usually you just need to add a bit of chakra to release the seal."

"Usually?"

"For simple things, this kunai, or your explosion, or a jutsu to 'lock' you want to make the seal real, real simple to release so that anyone can use it right? Otherwise who would buy it right? But some are supposed to be complicated, and you need elemental chakra to release a strong wind jutsu, or you need to have signed a contract to use a sentient summoning jutsu."

"Stop stop! You're using big words, Aji-nee-chan, I don't know what a elemeno chakra is!"

"It's! Well!" Ajisai huffs. She never intended to become an academy instructor. "Remember the strong water jutsu we used to get to the island? Not everyone can do that. Shinobi usually can use one, maybe two different elements, but some really strong shinobi can use lots. Anyway, it's a kind of chakra that isn't just normal chakra, alright?"

Naruto thinks.

"Then, then, if you need to have some talent with seals to make the seals and store things, Konan-neechan can do it to?"

"Aha. So the trick of a storage seal is that you 'store' and 'storing' jutsu, interesting right? This is why all shinobi carry scrolls to hold their equipment and even some empty ones, even though most of them don't really use seals, because they already have 'storage' written on them and just the tiniest bit of chakra will activate it."

Naruto makes a face at her. 

"Y'know...it seems like the more you explain, the less I understand…." 

"Now look here!" Ajisai huffs, puffing out her cheeks, then exhales and settles for mussing up Naruto's hair as he squawks and tries to get away.

-

"We have a lumber problem," Daibutsu tells Nagato. 

The mud huts they made on the first day have proven to be as temporary as they were planned. Without prompting, individuals have taken to experimenting with materials and building from what little they know, theit own experience of the buildings they've seen fro. Their own corners of Ame. Akatsuki's headquarters was largely a metal contraption, an abandoned factory of some sort in the dense inner city. They have no such fortifications here.

So far, they've managed to fire brick, and with some input from Konan, Ameyuki and Ryusai have built quite a charming looking cottage. It's prompted some discussion of building style and whether there needs to be some consistency across buildings or not.

"Ah," Nagato says, realizing that's true. They do lack wood.

There are trees but it's sparse, and mostly ones so big and old and gnarly it seems a bad omen to cut down the only survivors of the eradication.

Then there are new ones as well, and they're too small besides. It seemed inefficient to purchase cut lumber to transport back, but it's what they would have to do if they want to build with wood. It may have to wait; it's unessential except for the boats perhaps.

They'd need to find a better way to move the boats on and offshore as well; they suffered damage every time they docked.

"I was thinking of building a shrine," Daibutsu elaborates.

Nagato laughs. "To what gods?"

Daibutsu shrugs. "The rituals of normalcy."

That he understood. More important than tools were the personal artifacts and mementos those lucky enough to have them carried. They would need more things of decorative and sentimental value, things of beauty, it occurs to him, for it to sink in this was a new home, and not just camping. And to remind them they are humans, not just soldiers.

Naruto's been independently building a collection already, a rock he likes, a flower, a frog he found who knows where and a pot no one has the heart to retrieve from him that now houses the frog. Ameyuki's promised to build a little pond for Naruto to keep it in once Nagato and Naruto's new cottage is completed. They've learned when they need separate rooms and when theu don't from the first iteration of buildings.

"Look, Nagato-niichan!!" He follows Naruto, who's skipping along, to his little patch of vegetables. 

"Something grew already, you know!" Naruto says with a flourish, gesturing at the springy new wildflower in the middle of the row of carrots. 

Nagato doesn't have the heart to tell him it's a weed.

"That's wonderful, Naruto."

"Heheheh. I'll grow the biggest vegetables the island's ever seen, believe it!"

-

In the dead of night, the blackness is interrupted by one big, big eye. It's as big as Naruto himself!

He's a little more prepared this time, so doesn't fall flat on his bum.

"You're the kyuubi!" Naruto says, pointing rudely.

**_And you're interrupting my nap! Away with you!_ **

"I was the one who was sleeping!" Naruto says, because he was, and it's not like he asked to come here. He'd been dreaming, maybe. He remembers something nice, walking hand in hand with someone. Nagato-niichan? And showing him all the big flowers and trees he grew. Somehow along the way, it went from one person holding his hand to two.

But he couldn't see their faces.

He thinks maybe he dreamed about his parents, but is that possible when you've never met your parents?

Naruto gives the kyuubi a hesitant look.

"What were they like? You said my dad was the hokage! And my mom was an Uzumaki, like me!"

**_Are you sure you're an Uzumaki? With that yellow hair?_ **

"Eh??" Naruto thinks about it. Nagato-niichan has red hair. The Yondaime had yellow hair though! Like Naruto!

"Then, kaa-chan had red hair? Tell me, tell me, what was she like? Was she nice? Was she beautiful?"

**_Uzumaki Kushina had a round face like a tomato!_ **

"Tomatoes are nice…"

**_Nice?! No jailer of mine could be considered such. She had me chained down in her mind, imprisoned in the dark while she got to live her own dreams! You humans are nothing but cruel, detestable creatures!_ **

Naruto blinks. The fox used a lotta big words, and he knows they weren't all nice.

"Kyuubi no ojiisan, you're an old man arencha?" he observes astutely. No one _young_ would talk like that. Even if the fox did argue like Naruto's age at times. 

**_Grrrrrr. Your human lifespans are nothing to me!_ **

"That's a yes, huh?" Naruto rubs his eyes and yawns. "If you've been locked up so long, don't you miss your siblings?"

The fox freezes, but Naruto doesn't notice. He's busy dozing off, fading from sight. "I never even met my parents and I miss them lots, so you must feel lonely without your family too."

-

"We're back!" Yahiko greets everyone, and Nagato is not the only one who immediately notices that though they left with a group of five, they've returned with six.

There's a pale, black haired child a few years older than Naruto, thin and scruffy, tucked into Konan's side.

Yahiko smiles at the child and gives him a thumbs up, and Konan rubs his shoulder, encouraging the child to say hello. They give a surprisingly formal bow once the curious onlookers gather.

"Nice to meet everyone. My name is Haku."


End file.
